HISTORY
Bishop Montgomery High School is an archdiocesan Catholic high school serving seventeen parishes in the South Bay area. The school was founded in 1957, and was staffed by the sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Conventual Franciscan Friars, and lay faculty. The school is named for the first American born bishop of Los Angeles, the Most Reverend George T. Montgomery. As the ordinary of Los Angeles (1896‑1902), Bishop Montgomery demanded that the right of parents to send their children to schools of their choice be recognized by the government. The school is located in the city of Torrance, one mile east of the Pacific Ocean. The twenty‑four acre campus has forty-seven classrooms in three buildings, an administrative building, a chapel, a gymnasium, buildings for physical conditioning, fine arts and performing arts, and athletic fields. The coeducational student body has grown from a freshmen class of 268 in 1957 to approximately 1150 students.
BISHOP GEORGE THOMAS MONTGOMERY (1847-1907)
George Thomas Montgomery was bishop of the Monterey-Los Angeles diocese from 1896-1902. At the time of his elevation, the San Francisco Examiner reported that "Bishop-elect Montgomery has a standing in this community held by few men in or out of the Church. Conspicuous as a thinker and a leader in his own Church and among his own people, he is no less a leader in all the affairs of humanity."
To combat the widespread anti-Catholic bias of the American Protection Association, Bishop Montgomery organized the Catholic Truth Society. With his support the CatholicTidings, the newspaper of the diocese, was established to promote accurate representation of the Catholic Faith. Bishop Montgomery was also associated with the foundation of the Newman Club.
While a strong defender of the Catholic Faith, Bishop Montgomery was known for service to the community at large. On the issue of labor he wrote: "if ever the respective rights and duties of labor and capital are to be properly defined, it must be upon the principles which religion lays down." On education: "the exclusion of the Bible from the public school of the country (is) a logical necessity," since "its introduction into them would break down at once their nonsectarian character." Bishop Montgomery promoted the idea that every religious group operate its own school with state subsidies to compensate for the secular subjects taught.
In 1903 Bishop Montgomery was named coadjutor bishop of San Francisco. It was he who led the archdiocese in caring for the victims of the 1906 earthquake. Bishop Montgomery died unexpectedly at the height of his power.
